VATICAN CITY – News outlets around the world are reporting on the news that Pope Francis has made the unprecedented decision to endorse a US presidential candidate. His statement in support of Donald Trump was released from the Vatican this evening:

“I have been hesitant to offer any kind of support for either candidate in the US presidential election but I now feel that to not voice my concern would be a dereliction of my duty as the Holy See. A strong and free America is vitally important in maintaining a strong and free world and in that sense what happens in American elections affects us all. The Rule of Law is the backbone of the American government as it is in any nation that strives for freedom and I now fear that the Rule of Law in America has been dealt a dangerous blow. The FBI, in refusing to recommend prosecution after admitting that the law had been broken on multiple occasions by Secretary Clinton, has exposed itself as corrupted by political forces that have become far too powerful. Though I don’t agree with Mr. Trump on some issues, I feel that voting against the powerful political forces that have corrupted the entire American federal government is the only option for a nation that desires a government that is truly for the people and by the people. For this primary reason I ask, not as the Holy Father, but as a concerned citizen of the world that Americans vote for Donald Trump for President of the United States.”

Sources within the Vatican reportedly were aware that the Pope had been discussing the possibility of voicing his concern in the US presidential election but apparently were completely unaware that he had made a decision on going forward with voicing this concern until his statement was released this evening from the Vatican. Stay tuned to WTOE 5 News for more on this breaking news.

Vatican City – In a final speech to the synod, Pope Francis endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for President of the United States, while taking some clear swipes at conservatives who hold up church doctrine above all else, and use it to cast judgment on others.

“The synod experience also made us better realize that the true defenders are not those who uphold its letter, but its spirit; not ideas but people; not formulas but free availability of God’s love and forgiveness,” Pope Francis said. “I see in Senator Bernard Sanders a man of great integrity and moral conviction, who understands these principles and genuinely wants what’s best for all people.”

The pope went on to criticize ultra-conservatives, saying church leaders should confront difficult issues “fearlessly, without burying our heads in the sand.” It was the latest in a series of admonitions to bishops by the pontiff, who has stressed since his election in 2013 that the 1.2 billion-member Church should be open to change, side with the poor, and rid itself of the arrogance and unfettered narcissism that has alienated so many Catholics in recent years.

Naturally, conservative Catholics are not happy with Francis for being so outspoken on social issues and American politics. “The pope needs to stick to religion, and stay the hell out of politics,” says Cardinal Justin Francis Rigali. “Conservative Catholics are losing faith in the Church, and this falls directly on the shoulders of Pope Francis with his socialist ideology and warped political views.”

Conservative news outlets like Fox News have taken issue with Pope Francis on everything from climate change to income inequality. Bill O’Reilly has numerous times compared Pope Francis to Bernie Sanders, accusing both of being “false prophets.”

Liberals and progressives on the other hand applaud the pope for bringing social and environmental issues to the forefront of the Catholic Church. “He’s a Catholic rockstar,” says Prudence Bradley, 19, from upstate New York. “Pope Francis has made it cool to be a Christian again.”

Senator Sanders could not be reached for comment as of press time but we can safely assume he will be pleased to hear that Pope Francis is “feeling the Bern.”

A strong and free America is vitally important in maintaining a strong and free world and in that sense what happens in American elections affects us all. The Rule of Law is the backbone of the American government as it is in any nation that strives for freedom and I now fear that the Rule of Law in America has been dealt a dangerous blow.

It’s hardly a personal opinion: these people seem to think that Popes just spend their time spouting their own prejudices

Here we go again: a new Pope says something that all his predecessors have said because it is what the Church has always taught, and some Protestant accuses him of personally adopting (I quote a Prebyterian minister writing in the National Catholic Reporter (aka fishwrap) a “dicey position”, as though he had a choice in the matter. According to the Reverend Bill Tammeus, when Pope Francis recently quoted Pope Paul saying “It’s an absurd dichotomy to think one can live with Jesus, but without the Church, to follow Jesus outside the Church, to love Jesus and not the Church”, he is “intentionally (my emphasis) offering a poke in the eye to people outside [his] faith tradition”.

“Is Francis ”, asks this reverend person, “(through Paul) saying that I, as a Presbyterian, cannot follow Jesus outside of Catholicism? That’s what he appears to be claiming”. Well, IS it it? It might have occurred to this chap that Pope Paul of all people was hardly an enemy of ecumenism; this is the Pope, after all, who called Anglicanism “our sister Church”.

The doctrine is deceptively simple: that “Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus”: outside the Church there is no salvation. …

From Pope Francis’ sermon today, the feast of Saint George (Jorge Bergoglio’s own patron): “But the Christian identity is not an identity card: Christian identity is belonging to the Church, because all of these belonged to the Church, the Mother Church. Because it is not possible to find Jesus outside the Church. The great Paul VI said: ‘Wanting to live with Jesus without the Church, following Jesus outside of the Church, loving Jesus without the Church is an absurd dichotomy.’”

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis held his weekly General Audience on Wednesday – the last before the suspension of the event for the summer. The Holy Father dedicated his catechetical reflections to the second installment in his series on the Church. Specifically, Pope Francis focused on the Church’s public and universal nature, and in particular on the importance of belonging to the Church.

(Vatican.va) Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our catechesis on the Church, we have seen that God gathered a people to himself in the Old Testament and in the fullness of time sent his Son to establish the Church as the sacrament of unity for all humanity. God calls each of us to belong to this great family. None of us become Christians on our own; we owe our relationship with God to so many others who passed on the faith, who brought us for Baptism, who taught us to pray and showed us the beauty of the Christian life: our parents and grandparents, our priests, religious and teachers. But we are Christians not only because of others, but together with others. Our relationship with Christ is personal but not private; it is born of, and enriched by, the communion of the Church. Our shared pilgrimage is not always easy: at times we encounter human weakness, limitations and even scandal in the life of the Church. Yet God has called us to know him and to love him precisely by loving our brothers and sisters, by persevering in the fellowship of the Church and by seeking in all things to grow in faith and holiness as members of the one body of Christ.

This is the second time that Pope Francis has insisted on the impossibility of being a follower of Christ while rejecting the Church. The first time was less than a year ago and we posted the relevant sermon on our website here. This morning at his Mass he has repeated the same truth here in his homily on the Gospel story where Jesus, at a father’s pleading, cures the boy possessed:

AsiaNews’ account: Jesus always forgives, and his acts [of forgiveness] become “revolutionary” or “inexplicable” when they reach those who [seem to us to be too far gone], like Matthew the tax collector or his colleague, Zacchaeus. Christ’s healing acts always lead people “home” – and thus it is impossible to understand Jesus without the People of God. “It is,” he said, “an absurdity to love Christ without the Church, to feel Christ but not the Church, to follow Christ from the outskirts of the Church.” “Christ and the Church are united,” he said. “Whenever Christ calls a person, He brings that person to the Church.” For this, said Pope Francis, “it is good [that a child] “come to be baptized in Church – Mother Church”.

“And these, Jesus’ gestures of so much tenderness make us realize this: that our doctrine, let us say, or our following Christ, is not an idea. It is a constant abiding at home – and though each of us has the opportunity and the real experience of leaving home for a sin, a mistake – God knows – salvation [means] going home with Jesus in the Church. These are gestures of tenderness. One by one, the Lord is calling us as well, to His people, into His family, our mother, the Holy Church. Let us think on these acts of Jesus”.

Interesting stuff from him Tom, actually very Catholic.
Then, as we know, he’ll make contradictory statements like telling people atheists can go to Heaven, calling protestant heretics pretending to be bishops “brother bishops”, praising Islam etc.
He talks out of both sides of his mouth

In Philosophy, the Law of Contradiction says that something cannot be both wholly good and wholly evil at the same time for that would deny the reality of “Absolute Truth.” Those who believe there is a possibility that something can be both true and false, i.e., good and bad, at the same time are known as relativists. They are also know as Modernists. We have many of them in the Church today.